Midnight Bride (35 page)

"Her card is always full," his informant said bitterly.

"I am surprised.
And after such a terrible scandal too.
I had not expected to see her in company."

"Everyone knows Lord Edgerton was to blame. Any man who would fight a duel over an opera dancer and then run away with her is beyond the pale, no matter how many years have passed."

"Edgerton, just so.
I do not suppose . . ." He sighed again.

Interested, she turned toward him, her face alive. "It was Edgerton you were referring to, wasn't it?"

"No." Once more Hartley sighed. He looked around the room until he found Dunstan standing at the edge of the dance floor, his eyes on Elizabeth, just for a moment he let his hatred of the man show on his face. Then he pushed it firmly away.

"Lord Dunstan?" she asked, her eyes growing wide. Hartley sighed again but did not deny it.
"And Miss
Beckworth?"
He
nodded. "What kind of scandal?" she asked in delight.

Jumping quickly to his feet, Hartley said quietly, "Nothing.
Nothing at all."
And he walked quickly to the card room, determined to seek out Elizabeth's former
fiancé.
Finding him, Hartley drew him over to a secluded table. A few minutes later Edgerton jumped up, his face malicious in his enjoyment of the news Hartley had just given him. "I will do my part," he promised. Hartley watched for a moment as Edgerton walked back to the ballroom; then he found an interesting game to join.

Had he seen the ripples of his action spread around the ballroom that evening, Hartley would have laughed. By the end of the evening both Elizabeth's and Dunstan's names were on everyone's lips. Even before the supper dance, Elizabeth noticed the stares. When the second of her partners, a young man who had just recently joined the
ton,
made his excuses and asked to be released, she found Louisa. "I want to leave early tonight. Will you come with me?" she asked, not certain why she felt the need to retreat.

"What is wrong?" her cousin asked on the way home. But Elizabeth could not explain.

At the ball, Dunstan, disappointed once more, drifted over to the chairs where the chaperons sat and few of the less fortunate girls. Asking one of the young ladies to dance, he was surprised when she refused. When the second also declined, he grew thoughtful. Making his excuses, he walked back to his lodgings.

Lord and Lady
Ramsburg
and Charles stayed until the band stopped playing, but not because they were enjoying themselves. They had heard the rumors very early. In fact, several disgruntled mothers had taken care to drop a few words where they could hear. Their faces calm, they had made the rounds, noting the silence when it fell, tracing the rumor to one of its carriers.

The lady, her face flushed with anger, said belligerently, "I suppose Miss
Beckworth
was ill, since she had to leave the ball early. Her early departure had nothing to do with guilt."

"Nothing," Lady
Ramsburg
said, hoping that it was true. "Our barrister will be in touch with you," she said menacingly.

"For what?"

"To charge you with slander.
We will see how you enjoy being held up to ridicule."

"No, you cannot. My daughter would be ruined."

"You are spreading rumors that could ruin my daughter's life."

"Not me. A gentleman told me."

"A gentleman?
Which one?"
Lord
Ramsburg
said,
his voice sharp and forceful.

"I did not see him clearly," the lady admitted.

"But you saw my daughter and Lord Dunstan across the room?" Lady
Ramsburg
asked,
her voice cold.

"I was not wearing my glasses," the lady admitted. She pulled them from her reticule and put them on. "If things are distant from me, I can see perfectly. But I can't see people clearly when they are too close. And he was sitting beside me."

"Give it up, my dear. I believe her," Lord
Ramsburg
said, putting an arm around his wife's waist. She let her head rest on his waistcoat for a moment.

Then she turned to the other lady and said, her eyes as stormy as her voice, "You, my lady, should be careful of repeating what you hear. You have done more harm than you could ever dream of." She turned around. "Take me home, George."

Charles had traced the rumors to another source —Edgerton. Accompanied by Lord Hathaway, Elizabeth's brother tracked his man to the terrace, where Edgerton was blowing a cloud. His face dark with anger, Charles stalked up to the older man, his gloves in his hand. Striking Edgerton across the face, he demanded, "Name your seconds!"

"What?" Edgerton tried to bluster his way out of the situation. Having been through a duel before, he had no desire for another. Besides,
Beckworth
was known as an excellent shot and a good swordsman.

"Name your seconds.
Lord Hathaway will act for me."

"Must be in his cups," Edgerton told Lord Hathaway as the older man moved closer to the stairs leading into the garden. "You know I cannot accept his challenge."

"Too cowardly, are you? Or was that a provision in your return to England?" Charles moved forward, his fist drawn back to strike.

"Apologize, Edgerton, or take a stand like a gentleman," Hathaway said. "Admit you are lying."

Edgerton looked around the terrace as if hoping to find someone to rescue him. No one appeared. Remembering his years of exile, he stammered a few words and then took a few deep breaths to clear his wine-soaked head. Charles took a step closer. Edgerton stumbled backward and
fell down the low steps, landing on his back. The other two men stood above him menacingly.

"Will you meet me?" Charles
asked,
disgust in his voice.

"Why are you blaming me? I was simply repeating what I had been told," Edgerton said, remembering the threats Hartley had made. Charles was large, but Hartley was more frightening.

"Who told you?"

"Some lady."
Edgerton slithered along the ground, putting distance between him and Charles. "I'll tell everyone that she lied. All I wanted was Elizabeth. I thought she would have to accept my offer if everyone started talking. I'll tell them I lied."

Charles and Hathaway looked at the man groveling before them. Their faces hardened. "Do that
! "
Charles said. They turned on their heels and left, not wanting to be tainted by Edgerton's cowardly behavior a moment longer.

By morning Edgerton had left Brighton. Rumors flew widely, the most popular being that he had been called to the bedside of a dying relative in Scotland.

In spite of Edgerton's promise that the lady would retract their words, the damage was done. Both Elizabeth and Dunstan found their acquaintances deserting them. Invitations and callers began to disappear as everyone waited to see what would happen. When Dunstan heard about Edgerton, he sought out Charles angrily, demanding an explanation why the man had been allowed to escape unscathed. Charles simply ignored him. When he tried to see Elizabeth, she refused.

Her original determination to face the scandal forgotten, she locked herself in her room, refusing to face anyone except Miller. After the first wild despair was over, she sat up, determined.

Then she began to pack. "We are going home, Miller," she said firmly when her maid answered her bell. "Tell the footmen to bring down the trunks."

"They are serving the family supper now. Will the morning do?" her maid asked. Her face did not reveal her disturbance.

"No. As soon as the table is cleared and they have had their own meal, tell them to bring them down. We can begin to pack tonight."

"Shall I tell Mrs.
Beckworth
your plans?"

"No. I will." Elizabeth took a turn or two around the room. Then she asked, "Who is present for dinner tonight?"

"Lord and Lady
Ramsburg
and Mrs.
Beckworth
.
And the two young men."

"My brother and Lord Dunstan?"
Elizabeth asked, willing the answer to be different than she knew it would be.

"Yes, Miss
Beckworth
." The maid waited patiently, watching her mistress wear a path in the rug.

"As soon as they are finished, ask my cousin to come up to me." She paused and smiled at her maid. "Thank you for being so patient with me the last few days."

"It was nothing." The maid blushed and quickly made her escape.

The message she delivered to the family was not one they wanted to hear. "Tell her to come down immediately!" Charles demanded.

"Nonsense.
Thank you, Miller. You may go," Lady
Ramsburg
said soothingly.

"I will not let her run away again. Doesn't she know that she is running right back into the same situation?" Dunstan asked. His face was drawn with worry.

"If she retreats to the manor this time, she may never leave again," Louisa said somberly. They all looked at her, worry evident on all their faces. "Last time she was willing to talk to Amelia. You remember what happened yesterday?" They nodded. "If she will not see her best friend or any of us, what will happen when she returns home? You remember what she was like before. Not you, Dunstan, but the rest of us. She crept back into her shell, and it took years before she had the courage to crawl back out again. I am not even certain how she managed this time. If it happens again . . ."

"I won't let it happen. Doesn't she realize that this time the rumors affect me as well as her? She has to listen to me. I received two letters today: one from my superior and one from my grandfather. My superior suggested that I take a leave of absence until this unpleasantness is forgotten. He will be in Brighton soon and will discuss the situation with me. My grandfather demands my presence at home. And if I go home without Elizabeth, he will have me married to
Cecile
before I can say no!"

"Calm down. Everyone stay calm." Lord
Ramsburg
stood up, his pleasant face serious. "We will simply have to get her to talk to us." Everyone nodded. Remembering the last few days and the countless pleas, they wondered how they would ever convince her. "She expects you to go up shortly, Louisa. Can you persuade her to listen to you?"'